


It Started with a Bet

by exovelvetwriters



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comedy, EXOVelvet, F/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: Filipino
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28547970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exovelvetwriters/pseuds/exovelvetwriters
Summary: Baekhyun and Yeri may not always see eye to eye, but they do have one thing in common, in that they want to best the other. Unfortunately, this meant an ongoing competition that may or may not involve sabotage, severe criticisms, and FRA shirts sales. Fortunately, some people were able to draw amusement from it.Genre: Comedy, Prompt: Rendezvous
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun & Kim Yerim | Yeri, Byun Baekhyun/Kim Yerim | Yeri
Kudos: 14
Collections: EXOVelvetWritersFest 2.0





	It Started with a Bet

It always starts with something.

That was the way of the universe. There was a precursor, the beginning; and then there were the things that followed.

For Baekhyun and Yeri’s case, it started with a bet.

“Moving on to more important issues,” Chanyeol announced as soon as their official meeting was adjourned. He pulled out his iPad and loaded up the spreadsheet he’s painstakingly kept updated for the last nine months. “Dalawa payouts natin ngayon, 320.00 kay Irene for the accurate prediction of Baekhyun’s record sale of twenty-six shirts within the first three hours, tapos 134.00 kay Minseok for correctly guessing na pagtatalunan ng YeBa yung bagong Jose Rizal hairstyle ni Jongdae.”

It was seven-thirty in the evening and they were all crowded on the living room floor of his condo unit for their college organization’s bi-monthly Executive Board meeting. While his place wasn’t that big, it was comfortable enough to fit all eight of them, plus the 36-inch pizza from Big Guys and a bucket of Jollibee chickenjoy.

“The pool today opens at 12,004.80. According to our Finance VP—” he tipped an imaginary hat towards Wendy, who made a royal wave with her chicken drumstick, “—Baekhyun leads by twenty-three points on the merits chart and three percent of the FRA sales.”

“If you exerted this much effort with your work, sana mas maganda yung pub materials natin,” Joy felt the need to point out.

“If he exerted this much effort on everything else, baka kayo pa rin hanggang ngayon,” Minseok snickered. Chanyeol gave him a teethless smile and the dirty finger.

“Against everyone or kay Yeri lang?” Lay wanted to clarify. While he took his role as Vice-President for Human Resource and Development seriously, at least half of the EB members believed that he took being Yeri’s senior at a higher degree.

“Against everyone, pero wala rin namang bumoto sa ‘tin ng iba,” Chanyeol said as he scrolled his spreadsheet to about three weeks before. “Last month, kala natin Jongin would change the turnout, pero ang palaban na junakis ni Ms. Bae ay biglang bumawi after…was it three?” He peered at the screen again, “Yes, after signing up for the three events we had that month, s’ya na uli nag-lead by nineteen points. Tsk, umasa pa naman ako para sa Marketing.”

“Hindi mo rin naman pinusta si Jongin eh,” Wendy felt the need to remark on the VP for Marketing and Publicity’s fake dismay. “If I remember correctly, you said Jongin has potential—”

“But against Baekhyun…” Irene mimed a slit to the neck. 

Jongdae chuckled at that. Even he, the org President, sometimes felt sheepish with how unbelievably passionate and annoyingly competitive Baekhyun could be. From his wallet, he pulled out a hundred bill and three twenties. “Put me down for Yeri, though. May kutob ako she’ll pull through at the last minute.”

Joy shook her head at them with a frown and reprimanded them in a way only one’s mother and she can. “I still can’t believe you’re condoning this silly stupid thing.”

“Ba’t galit ka?” Jongdae said with a laugh. He reached for a slice of pizza and handed it to his hot-headed Executive Vice-President. “Kumain ka na nga lang. Besides, this ‘silly stupid thing’ traces back to what you did, you know. If anyone is to blame, it’s you.”

It was true, and Joy knew it, unfortunately. It happened after their first full-board meeting of the academic year, attended by the organization’s officers, officers-in-training, and them, the Executive Board. She, as the EVP, had just announced that they were doing a merit system for all officers that year. No one really knew what started it (although even if anyone did, no sane person would probably understand), but Baekhyun and Yeri had launched into a full-blown argument that involved an upturned bag of popcorn and a spilled cup of caramel macchiato. Joy sent them both out of the room, but when she went to see them half an hour later, they were still not done arguing. 

It wasn’t that they weren’t aware of how much Baekhyun and Yeri hated each other’s guts; they’ve been at each other’s throats since they were baby-faced freshmen (though very few know exactly why). Joy herself had been witness to it for three years, and now that she was in her fourth year, all she wanted was to lead in peace. So, knowing just exactly what would keep everyone happy, focused, and too busy to initiate the Third World War, she made a deal: whoever got the most merit points by the end of each month gets a free pass on any mandatory org event.

The merit points, which varied per task or event, were earned through working on assigned tasks, participation in events, attendance to said events, and other org-related activities. For that month, they were having a week-long Fundraising Activity and the Anniversary Party on the same weekend, so one would expect that the officers would only choose one event to help out with. Naturally, those people didn’t include Baekhyun or Yeri, who both declared it their mission to be the officer with the highest number of merit points, even though neither of them ever availed the free pass.

Clearly, though the intention was there, Joy’s proposition didn’t go exactly as planned. However, her pride would never let her admit it was her fault. “Between themselves! Malay ko ba na kayo pa mismo ang mag-i-initiate ng betting pool! Besides, I did it to get everyone in the org’s—”

“Participation, yeah, yeah,” Wendy waved her off impatiently, having heard the same excuse at least once a week. She dropped a hundred on the table. “Based sa sales so far, I think Baekhyun will stay on lead. Sorry, Lay, pero ever since Yeri started hanging out with that tall guy from Engineering, the guys from our college became less interested in listening to her, much less buying her shirts.”

“Sino? Si Sehun?” Junmyeon said, putting down three hundred. “For Yeri. May deal siguro ‘yung dalawa kasi may fundraiser din yung Eng next week. Baka maka two thousand si Ye, and for sure ipapalista n’ya at the last minute, kung kailan lax na si Baekhyun.”

“That’s 300.00 from our Documentations VP,” Chanyeol noted on his iPad before adding Junmyeon’s money to the cash box. He then turned to Lay, “O, ‘wag ka namang magpatalo sana sa ibang committee heads ‘di ba? Anak mo pa naman yung pinusta nila.”

A crisp five hundred note was added to the pile, from the Activities VP this time. Chanyeol jokingly held it against the light before listing Irene’s on the spreadsheet, “Same bet? Pang limang linggo na ‘to ah.”

“Irene, pustahan ‘to, hindi paramihan ng pera,” Minseok said teasingly as he emptied his pockets for all his coins. “Every week na lang sinasabi mo Baekhyun leads by at least a one-point-five. That’s what we call a safe bet.”

Irene’s tinted brow raised in challenge. “Why? It’s not like  _ you _ make high-risk gambles.”

Wendy hid her smile behind her soda. She caught Lay’s gaze, who winked at her.

In response, Minseok fished out a fifty from his money clip and added it to the coin tower he’s assembled. With a proud look, he announced: “Oh, 81.20. Yeri will offer a ceasefire, tapos walang away na magaganap hanggang Anniv Party.”

Chanyeol snorted in reply; the others either rolled their eyes or gave short chuckles. The Anniversary Party was three days away, which was surely more than enough time for at least three different arguments.

“Ano nga bang in-expect namin sa bente sentimos, ‘di ba? Okay, so isang pamigay from External Relations. I’ll match Junmyeon’s bet pero sa kabila ako. Nakikipag-batuhan ng upuan si Baek and Sehun sa Techtite tuwing vacant nila. Either nabentahan na ni Baek, o walang plano bumili ‘yun. Actually,” he quickly counted his loose bills and coins, “Sakayan ko nga si Seok para ‘di kawawa. I’ll add 73.00, papaiyakin ni Baekhyun si Yeri sa sobrang inis.”

It was Lay’s turn to laugh. “Tanda n’yo nung nag-inuman sila on their first team building tapos narinig na lang natin na ngumingiyaw si Baek sa ilalim ng mesa? Pustahan, si Yeri ang magpapaiyak,  _ and  _ she’s going to reach the highest number of t-shirts sold. In no particular order.” 365.00 was added to the pot.

Chanyeol made the calculations on a separate table. “That’s 1806.20 today, butal thanks to Minseok, putting our total to… 13,811.00. Based on today’s bets, Yeri leads by 506.20,  _ but _ based on actual performance, it’s still Baekhyun. Interesting.”

However, what was more interesting was what happened next— Joy, who remained quiet since they started passing down money, had put down exactly 506.20. They all looked at her in surprise (more so because aside from Minseok who probably still has the old two-peso coin in one of his jeans pockets, who really walks around with twenty cents these days?).

“Put me down for Baekhyun, just to even it out,” she told the EB.

“Nagbago ata isip mo?” Chanyeol teased her, but hurriedly typed down the bet before Joy could second-guess and take it back.

Joy ignored him (she was actually very good at it). “Remind me nga. What are your rules?”

“Really? We’ve been doing this for months.”

“And I haven’t been listening,” she said with a saccharine smile, though her patience was already wearing thin (because that, unfortunately, was what Chanyeol was good at). “So, ano nga? Strictly among EBs lang? No bet manipulation? Just let things run its course?”

“Bawal mangialam,” Junmyeon confirmed. He popped open another can of Coke for himself. “Besides, masyado na marami mismong ganap yung dalawa para pakialaman pa natin.”

“Uulitin ko lang ha, ang mangialam, forfeited ang bet.” Wendy pointed at both Irene and Lay, “Lalo na kayong dalawa. Kala n’yo ‘di ko napapansin na pinapadaan n’yo yung friends n’yong bibili pag shift ng dalawa.”

As both sputtered their useless excuses, with her hands under the table, Joy’s hands started typing:  _ Meet me at Starbucks tomorrow before your shift. _

—

It started with a joke.

Baekhyun was already adding more of the cheese-knorr to his bacsilog when Irene, having just finished a class, texted him if he wanted to join her for lunch. She asked him to grab a table somewhere (“Yung hindi mahangin, please. I don’t want my hair flying to my face while eating.”) and that she’d just meet him there.

They sat at one of the vacant benches down her building. She was taking out the cucumbers and tomatoes from her sub sandwich. He’s always noticed this about her; she often picked on her food like a two-year-old toddler. 

“‘Three percent  _ lang _ ?’” he repeated, eyes incredulous. 

“That’s what, about fourteen, fifteen hundred, I think? Meaning, three to four shirts lang ang lamang mo kay Yeri. If I were you, I wouldn’t count my chickens before they hatched. I heard Yeri has a lot of Engineering friends. Unahan mo na, remember, t-shirt ang uniform ng mga ‘yon.”

“Ako naman kasi dapat talaga bibilhan n’on eh, sumisingit lang si Yeri,” Baekhyun grumbled.

Irene disregarded that. That was another thing about her, he had learned; it was also why they worked well together. They had one-track minds. “When they do buy the shirts, make sure the sales go to you.”

“Bukas raw.”

“See? You’re being careless already. Don’t you have a strategy? Or some sort of publicity?”

Baekhyun didn’t want to admit it to Irene, but that had been on his mind ever since Joy made a deal with him last Friday, but he’s at a complete loss. “I have been wearing the same shirt for the entire week. ‘Di pa ba publicity ‘yon?” He gestured at what he was wearing. “Sobra na ‘ko sa school spirit!”

“Well, figure out something new, and fast. We’re down to the last few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yeri catches up, or anyone else, for that matter.” As Irene finally finished picking out stuff from her sandwich, she suggested, with a tone so light she almost revealed her purpose, “Hey, maybe you should give your number away.”

Baekhyun laughed at the idea as he picked up Irene’s discarded vegetables and put it on the lid of his deli container to throw away. “Ayos ‘yun, ah. Isang shirt, may freebie na phone number?” 

“Why not? The girls would go crazy for that. Most of them won’t even text you. They’ll probably just make yabang to their friends that they have your number and stuff.” She paused. “That was a joke. Don’t tell anyone I even suggested this, Joy might kill me. Remember when she made Chanyeol redo four of the pub mats when he jokingly posted her on that page? The school confessions thing?”

Baekhyun shook his head with a chuckle, remembering it too well. Most of the officers were inwardly thankful that Joy didn’t lash her anger on them for a change. “Oo na, ‘di ko ipagkakalat that you tried to pimp me,” he promised as he finished the rest of his bacsilog, not admitting that the idea did seem tempting enough to try and risk Joy’s ire.

However, Baekhyun  _ did  _ end up choosing to tempt death, because that was the kind of person he was, and because Joy had presented an advantage no one in his right mind would say no to. Plus, he needed to win, and competition was only fun when you have someone to go against. 

And so, without hardly planning for it, and without telling anyone especially Irene and Joy, Baekhyun offered his personal phone number for business with every two purchases of the shirt.

On the last day, though, Baekhyun had to admit to himself that he should have thought things through; had he did, he would’ve realized the flaws in his plan. Although he warned them that he would only reply to the numbers saved on his phone, it of course did nothing to stop others from distributing his phone number, or from texting him. Some even asked if he could please send in Minseok’s too as well. He probably should not have taken this thing seriously in the first place (Of course, unbeknownst to Baekhyun, Irene  _ did  _ know what he was doing, and was only glad she could feign innocence).

Today was another slow day. About five people already passed by the booth, all engaging him in long conversations, only to leave minutes later without even checking out the shirt designs. Apparently, people were now under the impression that he was just overly-friendly and accommodating, as opposed to being just plain old competitive.

It was getting boring.

His phone beeped, signaling a message:  _ Hello po! May number po ba kayo ni Yeri Kim? _

—

It started with a text. 

Or to be more accurate, it started with twenty-nine. And even though they were all from unknown numbers, none of which even contained any hint, clue, or mention of his name, Yeri was ready to bet her new leather Princetown flats that it had something— no,  _ everything _ — to do with Baekhyun.

_ ‘Is this Yeri’s number? For real?’ _

_ ‘Hi po!’ _

_ ‘Anniversary ng Tender Juicy Hotdog ngayon. Ipasa mo to sa 10 tao bago matapos ang araw…’ _

_ ‘Hey Yeri, remember me? We met at a party last week.’ _

_ ‘Yeri bakit mo naman binebenta number mo? – sehun pogi’ _

If, on any other day, someone held her at gunpoint, Yeri would admit the truth— that Baekhyun wasn’t really all that bad. Sure, he was loud, obnoxious, and often got carried away to the point of being insensitive to others, but he was also smart, strong-willed, and not unattractive at all.

But if someone held her at gunpoint now? Yeri would probably ask them to wait while she went to fetch Baekhyun and offered him and his future grandchildren as sacrifice.

Yeri didn’t bother opening the messages anymore. Instead, she tried to move on with her day, as she normally would, since she wasn’t expected to be at school until much later. She took a long bath (and may or may not have planned how she can maim a certain someone six ways to Sunday), ate fruit for breakfast (and may or may not also have already chosen the fruit basket she was going to send to the hospital), then picked up her double-shot, half-sweet, less ice caramel macchiato (and may or may not have considered getting another one, just in case this one ends upside-down on his head). She was meaning to start on this new book she’s bought when her phone signaled another text.

_ ‘Si Optimus Prime ay isang magiting na lider ng autobus. Siya ay naghahanap ng mga bagong kasama. Ipasa mo na ‘to sa 8 kaibigan at ikaw ay magiging transformers. Wag kang tumawa, yung tropa ko, tricycle na. Please pass.’ _

With closed eyes, she did her breathing exercise, before going online to check Baekhyun’s number from the org directory. Then, she sent him this: ‘ _ Let’s meet. Gagawin kitang tricycle.’ _

When he replied, he only sent her the thumbs-down emoji.

Yeri swore a vein almost popped out. She forwent texting and called his number. “Where are you?” she demanded through gritted teeth. 

“Since when did you have my number?” asked Baekhyun from the other line, not answering her question. “Bumili ka na rin ba ng shirt ‘ko?”

Yeri took another deep breath and closed her eyes. She repeated more forcefully, “Nasaan ka nga?”

“Bakit mo muna ‘ko hinahanap? Date tayo?”

“I’m serious, we need to talk.”

She only heard him laugh, followed by a  _ click _ . 

He hung up. 

He hung up on her!

The audacity of the arrogant asshat to—  _ ping. _

_ ‘Kita tayo sa HQ. Papunta na ‘ko.’  _

Yeri exhaled again. Lord knows that she’s possibly reached the limits of her patience. ‘HQ’, of course, was only a fancy term for the two teachers’ desks in the faculty lounge that the department allowed them to use. They weren’t always allowed in, but it was a Saturday morning, so the lounge was for sure almost empty. As soon as she arrived on campus, she charged towards the faculty building and up the four flights of stairs.

Expectedly, she found one such arrogant asshat sitting on the swivel chair, feet resting on one of the desks. With purpose, she stomped over to him and with as much force she can muster, flicked his abominably large forehead.

“Amputa, ang hina!” Baekhyun taunted her, though he did keep rubbing his forehead. Yeri dropped down on the other swivel chair, sipping into her iced coffee. “Ba’t mo nga ‘ko hinahanap? Ang sarap na ng tulog ko, napapunta tuloy ako nang maaga.”

“It’s not that much of a sacrifice since sa tapat ka lang ng campus nakatira.”

“So bakit nga ‘ko nandito?”

“To tell you to stop giving my number away!”

Baekhyun scoffed then closed his eyes. “Bold of you to assume I even have your number.”

She scowled. Honestly, where did this boy get such insolence from, she’d never know. His committee head, Irene, was known for being highhanded and high-maintenance, but she’s never heard of the older girl being this difficult. “You knew it was me when I called kanina.”

“Ikaw lang din naman ang kilala ko who’s rude enough to call without so much as a warning text.”

As if on cue, her phone let out another  _ ping.  _ It was another text, again from an unknown number: ‘ _ Hi, Yeri. Just wanted to say ang ganda mo today!’ _

“Just stop doing it!” she pressed on, showing him her phone screen and all her recent messages. “Look at these!”

Baekhyun sat up and leaned closer. He opened the latest text message before doubling up in laughter. “Trust me, wala akong kakilalang sasabihan ka n’yan.”

“See, you don’t even know who you gave my number to!”

“Hoy Yerim, ‘wag kang imbento,” he told her off with her actual name (which may or may not have sounded domineering and slightly sexy, though that would never be admitted out loud, ever) as he leaned back on the back of the chair again with his eyes closed, “Number ko lang ang pinamigay ko. I may find your mere existence bothersome but I wouldn’t go as far as giving away your number to anyone.”

Yeri crossed her arms, still in disbelief. “I suppose hindi rin ikaw yung nagtago ng stocks ng shirt design ko under the table.”

“That’s right.”

“Or yung nagbura ng name ko sa GALS ng seminar last week,” she asked, referring to the General Attendance Log Sheet. 

“Nope.”

“Yung nagsabi kay Joy na hindi raw ako makakapunta sa General Assembly last month kahit late lang ako?”

“No.”

“…Yung naglipat sa’kin sa clean-up duty for Free Film Fridays?”

“You don’t even know how to clean without a vacuum. Ako lang din ang maglilinis n’on.”

Tired at the odd stream of questioning, Baekhyun opened one eye to accuse her of making stuff up, but found her looking extremely bewildered, even more than she did after that time Jongdae asked her to go to Sta. Cruz to pick up the tarpaulin they ordered and she had asked, “Where’s that?”

Baekhyun then thought back to her questions. He tried, “Remember the FRA we had two months ago? Nung na-void yung merit points ko kasi nawawala raw yung ibang receipts under my name?”

“Yeah. Joy chewed me out so much, I ended up late for my class. Mas natakot ako sa kanya than my prof.”

“So, it wasn’t you?”

“Of course not. I tried to tell Joy the same thing, I don’t play dirty.”

“And nung napunit yung isang page ng GALS sheet that had my name on it, when we had a tie-up event with the other student orgs? Hindi rin ikaw?”

“That happened?”

Baekhyun’s back was now straight up and alert. “During this FRA… was there anything weird that happened? Anything at all.”

“Aside from you selling your phone number along with the shirt orders?” Yeri scoffed. “Honestly, what was that about? Were you really that desperate?”

“No… yes? Irene suggested a gimmick. The number thing was to widen our gap.”

"So you thought it'd be a good idea to sell your phone number?"

They heard footsteps from outside; through the wall dividers they saw Chanyeol and his huge-ass Herschel rucksack enter the faculty lounge. When he approached the HQ, he seemed to be surprised to see both Baekhyun and Yeri— not the fact that they were together, but because they were together but not at each other’s throats.

“Ceasefire?” He gave them a questioning look, half-kidding.

They exchanged glances.

“Something like that,” Baekhyun said simply. “Ano ‘yan?”

Chanyeol put down the eco bag on the table. “Pang-decor sa Anniv, dadaanan nina Wendy. Pero since andito na rin naman na kayo at mukhang wala kayo sa mood magpaslangan, kayo na lang mag-abot ha? May makeup class pa ‘ko sa kabilang building.” He turned around to leave, but before rounding the corner he reminded them, “Hintayin n’yo ha, dapat pagdating ni Wendy walang umiiyak sa inyo. Baekhyun, I’m looking at you.”

Once he was gone, Yeri was the first to talk; “Ceasefire? Really?”

“Temporary lang naman, don’t worry. I know you break into hives when you don’t argue with anyone for longer than an hour.”

Yeri pursed her lips and resisted the urge to frown again. Her mother always said it wasn’t good for the skin. “Fine. Bakit tayo naka-ceasefire?”

“You’re asking me that? Aren’t you weirded out? No, Yerim, seriously,” Baekhyun pressed when she only rolled her eyes in response. “Let’s recount all the weird stuff that happened.”

“Look, a lot of our officers minsan talaga lutang and careless. Maybe you’re looking into it way too much.”

“Careless but only when it involved either one of us lang?” Baekhyun pointed out, his eyes slightly widened in emphasis. It almost reminded Yeri of the meme and had to stifle her laughter. “Si Lay ba? Walang pinagawa sa’yo?”

“No… I mean, lagi n’ya lang pinapapunta yung mga kakilala n’ya sa shift ko, but that’s the most he did.”

Somehow, Baekhyun didn’t believe that. “Really? Come on, Yeri. I told you about Irene.”

Yeri licked her lips in thought, her eyes narrowed as she thought. “Okay, that’s fair. Well… nung first few days, he told me na easy-han ko yung sales for some reason. Like, not to get too into it and let everyone else go crazy with the selling.”

“Kaya ka muntik na naman malagpasan ni Jongin with the merit points,” he thought out loud, hand under his chin.

Yeri nodded. “Although ‘di ko rin sure why? Then he told me to talk it out with those from other orgs na may upcoming FRAs as well. Like offer to buy each other’s shirts. Which worked, but for only like a handful of people, because who needs that many college and statement shirts, right?”

“What else?”

“Ooh, another thing.” Although there really was no need to, she lowered her voice and leaned closer to mutter, “Joy made a proposition.”

Baekhyun paused. He reached for his phone and scrolled down his inbox to check the date and timestamp of his latest conversation with Joy. “Did she also send you a text last Thursday?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Asked you to meetup at Starbucks before your booth manning shift?”

“Yes…”

“And then offered her recommendation for an EB position if you get the highest number of shirt sales?” 

Yeri frowned. “No, she said she’d give me her recommendation if umiyak ako habang nag-aaway tayo. Which is weird, because the other day, Lay kept asking if I knew what made you cry during our team building two years ago, and if I can do it.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Hindi nga ako umiyak no’n. Allergic lang ako sa alak.”

“Hold on, bakit naman ang dali ng deal n’yo ni Joy? Honestly, I’d rather sell shirts than force myself to cry in front of anyone.”

Before either of them could think more of it, they were interrupted by Baekhyun’s ringtone. It was Chanyeol. “Bakit?” he asked. After a second, Baekhyun peered at the bag. “Wait. Oo, naiwan mo yung iPad mo. Kailangan mo ba? Hahatid daw ni Yeri.” She kicked his shin with her heel. “Aray, gago! Hindi ikaw. Ha?” Baekhyun’s brows furrowed before reaching for the eco bag and taking out an iPad. “Anong password? Aba, malay ko ba kung anong birthday ni Joy, sabihin mo na lang. Zero-three-zero-nine-nine-six. Error daw, gago. Sa’yo ba talaga ‘to? Ah, zero-nine muna? O, bukas na. Opening Files… alin dito? Tatlo yung Excel files. Basta yung recent? Ano ba dapat nakalagay? Ahh. Send to self ko na lang sa Messenger. Sige. Anong thank you? May bayad ‘to, ulol. Ge, bye.”

The most recent file was named YB Pool, which didn’t give the impression that it was school-related, so he opened to check it.

Sure enough, it wasn’t for school. It was a spreadsheet, with all the EBs names, followed by various amounts, and…  _ were those bets _ ?

“The fuck, Ye, come here.” He scrolled down the spreadsheet, pointing at the statements under one column. “Plus three percent sales… Ceasefire ‘til Anniv Party… 

“Twenty-six shirts in the first three hours?” Yeri read off one entry. “That’s pretty accurate. Sino nagsabi? Irene?”

“Blockmates niya yung nag-seal ng twenty-six orders. Look, pati yung estimate ng merit points natin, andito…”

And on and on the list went, that Baekhyun almost forgot to send the real spreadsheet to Chanyeol. Once he did, Yeri took photos of the YB file using her phone.

When she was done, Baekhyun opened Chanyeol’s spreadsheet to make it look like it was the one recently opened. Then, he put back the iPad in the bag. To Yeri, he asked: “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know? I mean… It’s kind of weird, finding out that people were betting on us.”

“Can you blame them, though?”

Yeri laughed. “Honestly? Not even the slightest.”

Baekhyun cracked a smile. Still, though, they couldn’t just ignore it. “Well, at least now I know you didn’t mean to spill your soda on me that one time.”

“What do you mean?” she scoffed, looking irritatingly contemptuous. “I did that on purpose. Twice.”

—

All their mouths were hanging out that it almost made Seulgi want to lie. Honestly, she just wanted to be anywhere else but there on the podium, on the possible receiving end of everyone’s ire. Below the stage, funnily enough, even Wendy didn't look half as happy as she was supposed to.

"Sure na 'yon?" Lay loudly asked.

It was already the Anniversary Party and Seulgi, project head of the FRA event, had just announced the total profit made, tallied with the officer who made the most number of shirt sales. 

It was not Baekhyun, or Yeri, or even Jongin. 

It was Kyungsoo. 

Wendy's belated congratulations didn't escape Irene— which led her to believe that Wendy hadn't planned this, even though Kyungsoo was from her committee. Irene quickly scanned the others' faces, but they all seemed just as dumbfounded (save for Joy, who was still chewing the ears off of a Marketing officer who misspelled a tweet using the official account.)

Irene's gaze met Lay's, who shot her an equally quizzical look. She spun around to look for Chanyeol, but his unfocused eyes were up at the ceiling, as if midway through an emotional breakdown.

"So what does this mean?" she asked Minseok, whose bowl of ice cream was now melted and forgotten since Seulgi made the announcement. 

He scratched his head, looking just as taken aback. "No payouts, I guess. Pero pa'no nangyari 'to? Huling check ko, nangunguna na si Ye."

Both of them geared their gazes towards Yeri's table, but was surprised to find her gleefully talking with a deadpan Kyungsoo, as if a few days ago she wasn't practically offering her firstborn along with a bunch of college shirts.

Once the program was done and Seulgi was halfway out the door, Wendy not-so-subtly dragged her by the arm and to their table, with a furiously determined Lay in tow. As soon as she sat down, Irene held Seulgi's other arm, and demanded:

"Talk."

Seulgi tried not to sigh. This was exactly what she was afraid of, not Baekhyun and Yeri— but their overbearing org parents.

As project head, Seulgi regularly dropped by the booth to check how the FRA sales were going. Sometimes, though, she'd settle by watching them from afar, especially when either Lay or Irene, or actually any of the EB, were in the booth. Ever since their failed first date, Baekhyun and Yeri never hid their competitive streaks, which, to Seugli, was honestly admirable as opposed to being two-faced. She couldn’t count the number of times she spied Junmyeon and Minseok passing each other money (“Umutang lang ako!”) whenever Baekhyun and Yeri got into one of their nonsensical arguments, or Irene and Wendy exchanging meaningful glances and quiet murmurs whenever Joy announced who was leading the merit system. One time, she even heard Jongdae and Joy arguing about intrusions and interferences, thrown around with the words pool and bets, and Baekhyun and Yeri’s names. Seulgi suspected, too, that it was probably Irene’s idea to get Baekhyun to offer his phone number, since he suddenly started doing it after they went on a lunch break together. It wasn’t surprising, considering that Lay’s been parading Yeri around in his free time, as if she were a prized thoroughbred. 

But then came the shocker. Last week, Seulgi was waiting for her drink at Starbucks when she overheard Joy’s separate conversations with Baekhyun and Yeri. She didn’t mean to, but she was sitting on the tall chair right behind their scheming EVP. And as if those weren’t enough to befuddle her poor confused mind, when Seulgi went to the booth on the second to the last day, she saw Joy pushing what seemed like a phone number towards one of the buyers, a gangly freshmen in a tucked shirt and printed socks.

“‘Di ba nakabenta si Yeri ng thirty shirts nung huling araw?” Lay demanded, pulling out his phone to show Seulgi a snapshot of the official receipt. “Ba’t naman parang kabuti ‘tong si Kyungsoo?”

Wendy lightly pinched his waist. “Umayos ka, anak ko pa rin ‘yan. But Seulgi, he’s right. I know naman maayos mong na-compute ‘to, pero sana sinabi mo yung breakdown.”

“Ibibigay ko naman yung breakdown, pauwiin n’yo muna kaya ako?”

Irene held her arm tighter when Seulgi tried to stand. “He was hardly in the top five! Where did Kyungsoo’s sales come from?   
  


Joy, who was finally done scolding the poor officer, came over. “Anong m’eron? Pauwiin n’yo na si Seulgi.”

“Not until she tells us where Kyungsoo’s sales come from.”

Seulgi raised her eyes to meet Joy’s, who only looked at her with raised eyebrows. To Irene, she asked, “Why does it matter so much?

Irene did not avoid her gaze though there was a very slight tremble in her voice. “Because! He’s been— Kyungsoo keeps to himself, you know? What if he’s better at marketing than we thought?”

Not even a five-year-old would buy that excuse, Seulgi thought. With a groan, she relented. “Fine. It was Yeri. She said a bunch of Business majors like the shirts, and then asked Kyungsoo to make the sale kasi she was meeting up with Baekhyun.”

“Hindi naman ‘to two lies and a truth, ‘di ba?” Chanyeol asked as he and Junmyeon joined them. “Yeri wouldn’t do that to Kyungsoo  _ or  _ with Baekhyun.”

Seulgi shrugged, then snatched her poor arms away from Irene’s and Wendy’s grasps. “‘Di-ko-rin-sure-pakitanong-na-lang-sila-bye!” she almost shouted, before rushing out the door, knocking against a couple on her way out.

That couple by the door turned out to be Baekhyun and Yeri.

And they were  _ laughing _ .

Yeri noticed them looking and raised her hand to wave goodbye. “Una na kami, ha? May lakad pa kami ni Baekhyun.” She then slung an arm over his shoulder, only for him to forcefully push it away with a quiet “ _ Tangina kadiri!” _ Together, they walked out of the hall, leaving behind the gawping, unbelieving faces of the Executive Board.

There was a beat of silence.

Chanyeol quickly abandoned his job of popping the balloons. He sat on an empty seat and took out his iPad and cash box from his backpack. Minseok reached for his pockets to start counting his coins. Wendy moved to Seulgi’s abandoned chair. Lay and Junmyeon pulled their table closer to theirs. Joy rolled her eyes, but mentally she was already computing how much cash she can spare. Watching the rest of the EBs do all this in a span of seconds, Jongdae laughed, and finally walked over with the garlands he was folding and leaned in to take part.

“Alright, boys and girls, re-opening the pool at…”

**THE END** _(for now)_ **.**

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments for our author! <3 You could also leave a like and share with your friends on Twitter! Just look for our festival thread on @exovelvetwrtrs.


End file.
